Wenonah police consolidation discussions on hold

WENONAH — Following a majority vote not to disband the borough’s police department, the mayor and council are saying the conversation is over for now.

On Nov. 8, more than 62 percent of residents voted “no” to the public question concerning the potential dissolution of the borough’s police department and possible shared services with another municipality. The decision to put the referendum question on the ballot was made in May after several long public meetings and the submission of a petition signed by nearly 500 residents.

The resolution is non-binding, but two Republican councilmen elected that day — incumbent John Dominy and newcomer Paul Lader — expressed the opinion that council should follow the majority’s wishes.

“The residents have expressed their feelings on it, and we should act accordingly,” said Dominy.

Both Dominy and Lader said the result of the vote was what they expected.

“Given the lopsided nature of the result, I really do think the will of the voters needs to be followed,” said Lader. “We need to realize the people want a permanent police presence in town and work from there.”

Mayor Tommy Lombardo and Councilman John Howard, both Democrats, were in favor of the borough’s exploration of a consolidation with another municipality.

Following the referendum, Lombardo said he believes it is up to council to decide what to do.

“I don’t believe council will address this issue in 2011, and I suspect no action will be taken any time soon,” said Lombardo. “From what I have heard and read, there is little to no chance of council exploring the police shared services idea any time soon. The result of the referendum and the election more or less ends the conversation for now. The referendum outcome is a result of a lot of hard work by people who opposed the idea of shared services for police.”

Lombardo had supported the idea of exploring a shared service in response to residents’ calls for property tax relief. When council looked into a possible consolidation with Mantua Township, the savings would have been about $400 per household for the year.

“From what I know, there are no other areas where we can save a significant amount of money,” said Lombardo. “The borough has been fairly frugal over the years with how they have spent money.”

Howard said it seems like he spent five months researching the question of the possibility of shared services and another five months defending his actions from attacks by the police union and the citizens who supported them.

“I was the tie-breaker in the council vote for the referendum so I certainly have to go along with the voters’ decision,” said Howard. “We were trying to find a way to hold down taxes, but when residents make emotional statements such as, ‘If you don’t want to pay higher taxes for the police, then move out of town’ or, ‘We moved into this town because of the police,’ then I assume that the majority of the electorate are not as concerned with the high taxes as they are with retaining our own police force and certainly the identity of the borough.”

Howard said the irony of that decision is the two people who were running the police force for many years — the chief and administrative sergeant — have retired in the meantime.

“So, this very police force that has been retained is not the same as it once was,” said Howard. “Now important decisions have to be made about restructuring the department.”

Howard said he wishes there was an easy solution to resolve the tax situation, but he said the borough has consolidated as much as it can without restricting basic services — given the burden of state mandates and rising costs for worker benefits.

“There is no panacea to the onus of higher taxes,” said Howard. “If further consolidation is not the way to go, then we can only continue to be responsible and frugal as elected officials.”